1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle display device and method, and more particularly, to a car audio in which a display part is provided on a front side of the car audio.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, car audios are discriminated according to the kind of front panel, and include electronic tuning radio (ETR) type, detachable type and flip down type. FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventional front panel according to the ETR type, and FIG. 2 is a front view of a conventional front panel according to the flip down type.
As shown in FIG. 1, the ETR type front panel is configured to include an insertion hole 2 (or entrance) formed at an upper portion thereof, and through which a data storage medium, such as cassette tape, compact disk (CD), mini disk, etc., is inserted, and a display section 3 provided below the insertion hole 2. A liquid crystal display (LCD) is generally used as the display section 3.
The flip down type front panel is configured to include a display section 6 formed throughout upper and lower portions of the front panel 4, and an insertion hole 5 provided in the front of the set. The display section 6 is selectively shielded by the front panel 4.
The display section 6 of the flip down type front panel 4 is sized larger than the display section 3 of the ETR type front panel 1. The flip down type has an improved convenience of use because of the larger display area.
FIG. 3 is a side view of a conventional flip down type car audio front panel driving apparatus. Referring to FIG. 3, a display section is provided throughout the entire area of a front panel 4. An apparatus for opening and closing the front panel 4 will now be described. A driving gear 7 which is supplied with a driving force of a separate motor (not shown) and thereby rotates is provided at one side of the car audio main body, and a slave gear 8 in mesh with and moving in combination with the driving gear 7 is provided in one end of the front panel 4. A spring 9 for providing a restoring force is provided at the rotational center shaft of the slave gear 8 such that the front panel 4 is opened and is then restored to a closed status.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view for illustrating an operation of the conventional flip down type front panel. As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional flip down type front panel 4 rotates up and down around the rotational center shaft of a slave gear 8.
FIG. 5 is a disassembled perspective view of a conventional flip down type car audio. As shown in FIG. 5, the conventional flip down type car audio includes a main chassis 10 having an insertion hole 11 for information medium such as compact disc, mini disc, cassette tape and so on, a panel coupling section 20 as a fixing section formed in the front of the main chassis 10 to rotate a front panel 30, and an escutcheon section 25 coupled to the panel coupling section 20 to be rotatable along upward and downward directions. An entrance 22 in the panel coupling section 20 corresponds to the insertion hole 11.
A rotational shaft 24 at both lower portions of the front side of the panel coupling section 20 rotatably supports the escutcheon section 25. The rotational shaft 24 includes a pair of damping gears 23 engaged with each other such that the escutcheon section 25 is slowly and downwardly rotatable. Also, a hanging protrusion 21 at an upper edge portion of the panel coupling section 20 restrains the downward rotation of the front panel 30 from the standing status.
The front panel 30 further includes a display section 32 for outputting and displaying information, a plurality of operating buttons 33 for selecting and operating the functions of the car audio, and an insertion groove 31 formed at both side portions of the front panel 30 into which both side edges of the escutcheon section 25 are inserted. In addition, at a corresponding position to the hanging protrusion 21 is a release button 34 for releasing the hanging status of the hanging protrusion 21 so that the front panel 30 is downwardly rotatable.
By rotating the front panel 30 upwardly, the upper edge of the front panel 30 is hung and maintained to the hanging protrusion 21 of the panel coupling section 20, so that the standing status of the front panel 30 is stably maintained.
In case it is intended to insert or withdraw the information medium into or from a corresponding player, the release button 34 of the front panel 30 is pushed, and the hanging protrusion 21 is disconnected. The front panel 30 rotates downwardly around the rotational shaft 24 by the elastic force of a spring (not shown). At this time, the damping gear 23 restrains an abrupt rotation of the front panel 30 such that it rotates gradually. Accordingly, the entrance 22 of the panel coupling section 20 is opened and viewed from an outside.
In the conventional car audio shown in FIG. 5, the escutcheon section 25 and the front panel 30 are further formed in the front of the entrance 22 for the information medium so as to shield the entrance 22. To this end, there is caused an inconvenience in that it is requested to rotate the front panel 30 and the escutcheon section 25 downwardly during the insertion and withdrawal of the information medium, and after the withdrawal or insertion, to rotate the front panel 30 and the escutcheon section 25 manually and upwardly. Further, when the front panel 30 rotates downwardly, there occurs a problem in watching the display section 32 formed in front of the front panel 30 and operating the operating buttons 33. The operation of the conventional flip down type front panel shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 is provided in additional detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,437.
However, as described above, the prior art has various disadvantages. In the ETR type as shown in FIG. 1, the size of the display section 3 is made small in size. Also, in the conventional flip down type shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, there exist user's inconveniences because the operation is manually performed, and although the display section 6 is turned on, it cannot be viewed in the open status of the front panel 30.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,168B1, the front panel has an advantage in that the display section can be viewed in the open status of the front panel. However, a smooth movement of the front panel is hindered sometimes because the front panel is sensitive to external conditions such as temperature, humidity and so on owing to a complicated mechanical operation. Also, the front panel has another disadvantage because a sufficient device reliability cannot be obtained due to the complicated mechanical operation when inserting or withdrawing compact disc, mini disc, cassette tape and so on.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.